The uproar over the lack of diversity in this year's Oscar nominations is unlikely to abate by 2017, according to a USA TODAY examination of 184 movies to be released this year by 14 Hollywood studios.

The studios' officially announced movie slates indicate it will be another year with disappointingly few minorities in major roles — and only a handful of women in director's chairs.

USA TODAY examined the credits for each movie, assigned points based on the number of women and minorities in the top spots, then issued a report card for each studio. The analysis did not assess the Oscar viability of these movies.

The grades weren't good. Most studios earned no better than a C. Four studios scored a B and one studio received an F.

"So maybe it's not as important as the civil rights movement, but it's almost as important," says Shawn Edwards, co-founder of the African-American Film Critics Association and film critic for a TV station in Kansas City, Mo. "Movies define our image and how our culture is perceived; they validate history. What does it say to historians 20, 40, 50 years from now? That this was what we thought was worthy on an artistic level?

The #OscarsSoWhite debate could be with us again this time next year — a repeat of 2015 and 2016, when all 20 acting nominations for the Academy Awards went to white performers. Studios probably will acquire a few festival films — which tend to be more diverse — before awards season rolls around again. But that likely won't be enough to offset what's already in the works.

The industry, including Veenker, is trying through various means to do something about diversity — for instance, by widening the pipelines to jobs in the business to include more talented minorities and women.

Jake Gyllenhaal, left, and Judah Lewis in 'Demolition,' which has an overwhelmingly white cast.(Photo: Fox Searchlight)

But Hollywood is also trapped by its longstanding traditions, stereotypes and business models, says Jeetendr Sehdev, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California whose research includes diversity in Hollywood.

"Despite the perception of the entertainment industry as being highly creative, Hollywood culture is not that original. Most producers, writers, agents and directors are trying to copy the success of the previous project to reduce risk, looking for the next 'big' film or actor," Sehdev says.